Focusing mainly on the early game / start. Vasari doesn’t start with a planet or starting structures. You have to actually build the structures to summon more ships, and also the research buildings. You have a choice here on what to prioritize.
The early second Capital ship is a bit of a trap too. You can’t get one until you’ve actually increased your fleet supply, and I found it was harder to time it. Plus you want that +3 military upgrade on your home planet for easy access to tier 2 military research which takes the juicy Kortul Devastator off the table in terms of starting exoctics. The hunt for one red exoctic early on is a bit of a pain unless you build the foundry.
Luck of the draw can certainly hurt the Vasari; if they don’t have a volcanic planet nearby (which has a guaranteed red when you survey), you’ll be scrounging. I still have a tendency to balance my research, although it’s not as optimal anymore with all the planet items.
The funny thing is I think now I have more games under my belt with Vasari than the other two.
They are really strong. Just the start can throw you for a loop. Vasari Alliance, now I know is all about gaining powers and winning bids from the minor factions. They have superior influence power. It’s easy to outbid everyone else and snag 3000 crystal or that bespoke planet item that gives +4 civil/military research points.
What is undeveloped right now in comparison to Sins1 is Diplomancy with other players/AI. It’s just giving or requesting resources. No envoys. No syngery bonuses. Etc. And hoping for the best. Not much there.
Titans feel really late game now and Starbases are not the juggernaunt defensive units they once were. So in generally, always prioritize the fleet. Build that bad boy up. Keep your fleet cap topped off. It’s more than equal and usually more important to research/planet development. It’s the one thing that allows you to actually win exchanges with the enemy.
I find using the Vasari alliance points to buy a lot of regular minor faction goodies is pretty good as well. Launch a harrassing strike on an opponent to pull their fleet out of position or a defensive fleet to blunt their attack. I also like the “unassailable fortress” which can make your world’s significantly tougher at the start.
Speaking of which, with all the planet damage resist and regen research, a single nova cannon won’t be enough to wipe a planet out. It will heal back to full before the cannon can fire again. Given it has enough HP to survive a single shot.
I’m finding the starbases are still useful, but need amping up through their items to survive a proper assault (and even then, they’ll want support). Planetary shield is fantastic to make sure your opponent comes to them instead of a bypass to pound your poor population into nothingness without you being able to retaliate. Of course Vasari starbases can move, but you definitely want that improved speed for them.
I played a game on a medium map called Scramble. It was pretty chaotic.
The start of the game is pretty standard. You’ve got your own corner with a handful of planets/asteroids. But as the game goes your corner merges with your neighbors and your “empires” gets all entangled together. So the smart thing to do would be to try and ally with your neighbor and then take on the other two. That didn’t happen for me, but it did happen for the other two. So it ended up being a 2v1v1 where I was fighting my neighbor. After winning a good exchange I sent the fleet to attacked the 2 who were allied because one of them kept blasting my planets with a nova cannon. Luckily one of the AIs came down and knocked my neighbor out of the game while I went on a tear through their territory and took out both homeworlds.
That is a fun map. SoSE1 used to end up with a quasi-stalemate of choke points. It is fun when the empire get completely jumbled.
I end up just fortifying almost everything on the map. Unfortunately I don’t think the AI handles the jumble particularly well, so I feel like I just get to scoop up free planets
Temple planet item that auto captures adjacent planets with ship presence (not mentioned but required) and no enemies in the gravity well always built where needed to expand.
Get to Military tier 2 and crank out those carries, set all them to all bombers.
Advent bombers use beam weapons. Basically instant velocity weapons, and they get more of them. No projectile travel time through space FTW.
It’s OP and a massive swarm of them melts everything.
Going all capital ships with Halycon Carrier’s is ridiculous. Since they get PD and the bombers us lasers they pretty much destroy anything and everything in their path. The only counter is mass Kol Battleship with the gauss cannon, and even then Advent will usually win since the bombers can hit well before coming into Kol battleship range
Laser weapons are both different and distinct, even in-house as Advent.
Advent bombers use light beam! Fired at the speed of light rather than pew pew pew…
I haven’t tried that faction, but how much of a boost is it compared to having a colonizer following along behind each attack fleet? How much time does the planet item really save?
I have seen a strategy guide that recommends you don’t get the colony capitol ship at first because you’ll be seriously outgunned by people who didn’t pick it …it’s a weak ship
I actually don’t like the colonizer capital either. Well, except the Vasari, that one seems decently armed. Which is good, because you don’t have a choice.
I was wondering how much the delta is in time between a coloner frigate versus the planet special. Anyway, I’ll have to try it.
The extra planet slots upgraded colonize power gives you can be useful. Nice to start out with the extra assembly drones if your rushing some defenses.
But tough to take up a whole bunch of fleet supply for it
Halycon Carrier for Advent is a no-brainer but with TEC I hear people go Kol Battleship or Sova Carrier because you can upgrade it with a corvette factory and spam out corvettes anywhere. Strategy to win the early game fleet exchange.
